The amount of software and data in onboard airplane information systems is growing at a rapid pace. Onboard airplane information systems use software and data for cabin systems, avionics, and inflight entertainment systems, among other things. Some software and data may be common across commercial aircraft type and an airline fleet. Airlines are responsible for frequently and timely refreshing all data and software of their aircraft fleet.
The availability of aircraft WiFi or cellular links and airport-based and Internet-based software and data distribution servers streamlines the process of managing large software and big data of aircraft. However, such solutions are limited by the cost of managing airline-owned distribution servers at airports, reliance on Internet connectivity to reach airport-owned distribution servers, and dependence on the last-mile wireless networking availability and throughput at airports.
Moreover, there are some commercial aircraft data that cannot be sent via wireless networks due to regulations governing aircraft communications. Such regulations may someday require that certain types of data, such as aircraft encryption keys, only be transferred to an aircraft when the aircraft is parked at an airport gate and other conditions are met. The other conditions may require that an aircraft must initiate all (wired and wireless) communications with a ground network at an airport. Given this, it is impossible for two aircraft to directly communicate, since neither aircraft can accept a communication initiation request from a networked off-board system.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for mutual authentication and shared pairwise key establishment for securing aircraft-to-aircraft communications.